Giuseppe Macri

Russia’s defense ministry on Wednesday said it would mobilize more than 4,000 soldiers, 400 technical units and major air support for a large-scale nuclear exercise, just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin made a veiled threat about Russia’s nuclear arsenal amid the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.

Strategic rocket forces Major Dmitry Andreyev said the simulation will have units ”conducting combat missions in conditions of active radio-electronic jamming and intensive enemy actions in areas of troop deployment” to counter “irregular units” and “high-precision weapons,” according to the report.

Andreyev also said the scale of air power included would be unprecedented for such an exercise.

“I want to remind you that Russia is one of the most powerful nuclear nations,” Putin said Friday at a youth forum, news.com.au reports. ”This is a reality, not just words.”

Ukrainian Defense Minister Valeriy Geletey wrote on Facebook earlier this week that a “great war arrived at our doorstep, the likes of which Europe has not seen since World War II,” adding it could result in “tens of thousands of deaths.”

In a conference call with reporters ahead of this week’s NATO summit, White House Senior Director for European Affairs Charles Kupchan warned Russia against interference in other former Soviet states.